Xi'an day 1

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A truly amazing day, first of all because it is 21 deg C = about 75 F, sunny through the ever=present haze of this area, and the magnolia and cherry/apple/plum trees are all in full bloom.

This morning Gigi took us to the Terra Cotta warriors site. We had lunch at a roadside area, where we met a female cop from Chicago who has been working in Afghanistan for the last four years instructing police there. She had just left t*b*t, having been stuck there because of the "unrest". Then this afternoon, saw the excavation site of the Banpo culture neolithic village. In both places, the sense of seeing things so ancient, in their original location and not in a museum case halfway across the world, is an awe-inspiring and unique experience for me. Lynn has been to Israel and Pompeii, so not as much for her, but still impressive.

The Banpo site was the home of a matriarchal clan about 6-8000 years ago. What was so great about a matriarchal society was not made clear--the men built all the houses, and kept the fire in the kiln going, so it's not like they were totally superfluous. (Actually what really wasn't clear was, what is so different from today.)

There was a series of small sculptures demonstrating how the people made pottery from clay snakes and kiln-fired the pots. Lynn thought the figures would be useful for her to illustrate the "neolithic diet" concept for her patients--how prehistoric people spent most of their time getting food, ate when they were hungry, etc. We asked at the gift shop if they sold figures like the ones in the exhibit. The staff could not figure out what we were talking about. They showed us classic Chinese figures, Terra Cotta warrior reproductions, they even thought we wanted a custom-made piece of pottery. I finally went back and took pictures of the figures, having to sneak the camera into the case to get a good shot.

Right now the whole thing is almost too much for words. There's another blog on this site that recently discussed the buried warriors and has good photos, so there's no need for me to blather on about it. All of you who are more well-traveled than I probably know the feeling of being face to face with the realization that in America we are just babes compared to the history of people on Earth.

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Photos

Lynn and Gigi
On the grounds of the Terra Cotta Warriors site.

Warriors
None of the five million pictures I took can convey the effect of seeing them in person.